Agence France-Presse
April 30, 2025
French hard-left politicians visited Poland on Tuesday to bring abortion and morning-after pills, in a show of support for activists, to the Catholic country whose termination laws are among Europe’s most stringent.
Representatives from the France Unbowed (LFI) party delivered around 300 pills to activists in Warsaw, and vowed to send more in the future.
Continued: https://globalnation.inquirer.net/275209/french-hard-left-bring-abortion-pills-to-poland
As commentators hail France's decision to protect abortion rights within its constitution as a legal milestone, healthcare workers warn that having the right to an abortion and having access to one remain two different things.
March 9, 2024
Jessica Phelan with RFI
"Enshrining this right in the constitution makes it practically untouchable," declared long-time women's rights activist and former leftwing MP Danielle Bousquet, speaking to RFI on the day that both houses of the French parliament approved the move.
Article 34 of the charter now states: "The law determines the conditions by which the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed, is exercised."
Some had grumbled it was mere politicking from Macron, yet enshrining the right to abortion felt like a rare moment of unity
Agnès Poirier
Wed 6 Mar 2024
There was little doubt that the French parliament would reach a majority on Monday, when it gathered in a special session to enshrine the right to abortion into its constitution. But even so, it was an electric moment. At the Palace of Versailles, big enough to host the 925 MPs and senators eligible to vote, the scene was set to the solemn drumming of the republican guard.
Broadcast live on every news channel and beamed on to a giant screen at the Paris Trocadéro, opposite the Eiffel Tower, French citizens watched as the national assembly’s first female president, Yaël Braun-Pivet, looking calm and focused, walked towards the packed chamber to declare the hearing open. Passing republican guards in full regalia, sabres drawn, forming a guard of honour, there was total silence as she made her entrance to make history, as France became the world’s first country to guarantee women’s rights to abortion.
Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/06/france-abortion-rights-emmanuel-macron
The conservative-dominated Sénat, with 267 votes to 50, approved the bill to constitutionalize abortion as a 'guaranteed freedom.' President Emmanuel Macron will call a joint session of Parliament on March 4 for a final vote on the reform.
Le Monde with AP and AFP
February 28, 2024
France's Sénat on Wednesday, February 28, adopted a bill to enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in the Constitution, clearing a key hurdle for legislation promised by President Emmanuel Macron in response to a rollback in abortion rights in the United States.
With 267 votes in favor and 50 against, the Sénat voted in favor of constitutionalizing abortion. Wednesday's vote came after the Assemblée Nationale, overwhelmingly approved the proposal in January. The measure now goes before a joint session of Parliament for its expected approval by a three-fifths majority next week.
Parliamentarians in France begin discussing a motion to enshrine the right to abortion into the constitution, offering stronger protections of women’s health rights
January 26, 2024
by Peoples Health Dispatch
On Wednesday, January 24, the French parliament began considering incorporating the right to abortion into the constitution. This initiative follows the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, dealing a significant blow to women in the US. One of the earliest proposals came from parliamentarian Mathilde Panot of La France Insoumise in 2022, with President Emmanuel Macron vowing to protect abortion care last year.
The idea of constitutionalizing abortion enjoys widespread support among the public and parties of the left. On the other hand, Gérard Larcher from the conservative party Les Républicains, the current president of the French Senate, commented that the move is unnecessary as women in France already have adequate access to abortion, and their reproductive rights are secured.
Issued on: 10/03/2023
Romain BRUNET
During a speech given on International Woman’s Day, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the decision to put forward a bill enshrining abortion rights in the country's constitution. Despite being lauded by women’s rights groups, changing the constitution may be more difficult than it appears.
Perhaps in an attempt to divert attention from the backlash his government is facing over the recent pension reform proposal, Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, March 8 announced his intention to cement abortion rights in the French constitution as he paid tribute to feminist activist Gisèle Halimi, who greatly influenced the passing in 1975 of the Veil Act granting women the right to abortion and contraception.
Nov 25, 2022
By Paul Kirby, BBC News
France's National Assembly has backed a bid to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution, prompted largely by increased restrictions elsewhere. Lawmakers voted by a large majority to include a clause guaranteeing "the effectiveness and equal access to the right to end pregnancy voluntarily".
Left-wing MP Mathilde Panot, who is behind the change, said it was to protect against the "backsliding" seen in the US and Poland. But the bill will face a tough passage.
Lower house approves resolution to guarantee access to ‘the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy’
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Thu 24 Nov 2022
France has moved a step closer to becoming the first country in the world to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, after lawmakers approved a resolution in the lower house to guarantee access to “the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy”.
In a rare cross-party move, members of parliament from the left’s La France Insoumise party and Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition agreed on the wording of a clause that could be added to the constitution. It read: “The law guarantees the effectiveness and equal access to the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy.”
Sylvie Corbet, Associated Press
November 24, 2022
PARIS – Lawmakers in France's lower house of parliament on Thursday adopted a bill to enshrine abortion rights in the country’s constitution, the first step in a lengthy and uncertain legislative battle prompted by the rollback of abortion rights in the United States.
The measure was approved with 337 lawmakers voting for and 32 against in the 557-member National Assembly. To be added into the constitution, any measure must be first approved by majorities in the National Assembly and the upper house, the Senate, and then in a nationwide referendum.
By BARBARA SURK and JADE LE DELEY
July 8, 2022
PARIS (AP) — The right to abortion in France hardly seems under threat — it’s been inscribed in law for 47 years and enjoys broad support across the political spectrum. But more and more French women are asking: Could what happened in the U.S. happen here one day?
The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to strip women of the right to abortion has reverberated across Europe’s political landscape, forcing the issue back into public debate in France at a time of political upheaval.
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